Page 53 of Lifebound

Rune pulled me to the side around the corner, and the moment the cowboy was out of my sight, it was like a bucket of ice was thrown over my head.

What the actual fuck was that?!

“Rune,” I whispered, but I had no idea how to even ask him because it was too senseless. Nothing made any sense, and we’d turned the corner to a part of this town where there were even more residents coming and going. Most were headed toward the other end of the cobbled street where a large statue of a man stood with his legs apart and a trident between them. The statue’s face was completely ruined together with the better part of its left shoulder, and the three large pillars of the trident were gates, but from here I couldn’t see where they led.

“We’re here.”

Suddenly, I was pulled to the side again, and the sound of a door opening with a screech filled my ears. Darkness around me—we were inside, and that same heavy door fell closed behind us with a loud thud.

Safe, safe, I’m safe,I reminded myself, but it wasn’t really working. It still took me a few blinks to see where we were, to see the wooden interior that looked like it was about to collapse on my head any second. Broken pieces of wood hung onto one another, some even tied with ropes. Chairs and tables everywhere, and the space wasn’t small, but it was so full of furniture we could barely walk to the bar on the other side.

Six people in total sat at the tables. Four sitting alone, two together—a couple, they could have been, one a woman with no mouth on her face who was taking the food somewherebelowthe table where I couldn’t see, the other a man who looked ordinary enough if you could ignore the sickening green tint of his skin, and the unusually slow movements of his hand as he brought the spoon to his mouth.

A spoon full of soup that looked like blood.

Bile rose up my throat.

“Sit down and don’t move.”

Rune pushed me to the side and something hit the back of my knees, so I had no choice but to sit. My body was not in my command right now and I couldn’t really understand much of what he was saying, but I was sitting. My eyes were closed, and my ears were full of the sound of people around me moving, talking—most to themselves—andchewing.

God, this couldn’t be real. How in the world had Helid failed to mention all of this? Why wouldn’t he tell me what awaited me in this place before I agreed to come with him just like that?

If I ever see him again, his teeth and my fist will get all close and personal,I thought, but right now it didn’t matter. Right now, Helid wasn’t here, but Rune was. I was alive and I was breathing, and I could do it. I just needed to remind myself of the reason why I was here in the first place.

By some miracle, by the time a glass of water and a plate full of food was put in front of me, I had regained control. And by the time Rune sat across from me at the old, half-rotten table, I was even able to produce voice.

“What the hell is this place, Rune? Tell meright nowor I’m going back.”

Never mind that the way back was through that same part of town where there were two-headed men, women with claws and fangs, and cowboys who could make me wet with a look even when I was scared shitless. Never mind about any of that.

“Eat first,” Rune said, pointing down at the food he’d brought me.

It was bread—and it actually looked like bread—and square pieces of cheese, a sliced tomato and four boiled eggs, as well as this small bowl full of soup.

Soup.

This one was yellow and it didn’t look like blood at all, but I still pushed it away. If I even tried to eat it, there was no way I wouldn’t throw my guts out.

But Iwasstarving, and so I didn’t comment. I grabbed the water first, drank the whole thing at once, and thank God it tasted just like water. Even so, my hand hovered over the squares of cheese, and I was having second thoughts while my stomach turned and rumbled with hunger at the same time.

“It’s safe.Eat.”

This guy wasreallyinto orders.

So, I gave one back. “Speak.” Then I grabbed the cheese and popped it in my mouth.

Cheese.It was just cheese and I thanked God and my lucky stars and the entire universe for it, too.

But soon, when Rune began to speak, I forgot all about the taste of what I was eating and hung onto every word he spoke.

“Nobody knows exactly how many kinds of creatures exist in Verenthia, but there are ten main species that most of the others fall under as well. That’s fae, mermaids, golems, shifters, sorcerers, vampires, incubi and fomorians, which live on the main parts of the continent.”

My brain glitched. “That’s…that’s only eight.” Or maybe I’d passed out while he spoke and hadn’t heard the other two?

“The dragons and the giants live far away. Their territories are far beyond The Vale and Bloomsridge.”

My mouth opened and closed a million times.

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